


your body is a weapon / my body is a temple of doom

by trashgutz



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: (not stated but implied), Autistic Spencer Reid, Bisexual Derek Morgan, Bisexual Spencer Reid, Bullying, Drinking (mentioned), Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Overstimulation, Pretending to Be Gay, Protective Derek Morgan, i have no idea how to tag anymore, i havent written in so long jesus, mentioned rape, not in the fun way, not stated but implied, reid meets old bullies, tw: mentioned rape, tw: q-slur use, you think at first but aha! it was a lie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:22:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28117644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashgutz/pseuds/trashgutz
Summary: and i don't come here for the exclusivityi just come here for the viewand the minuscule chance of some close proximityor an awkward conversation with youyeah that'd be cool- "your body is a weapon" by the wombats
Relationships: Derek Morgan/Spencer Reid
Comments: 3
Kudos: 138





	your body is a weapon / my body is a temple of doom

**Author's Note:**

> this was written for my qpp jamie ^3^  
> we love moreid so i wrote this  
> uh. yeah

Reid didn’t like to go to clubs.

Maybe it had something to do with his brain, how a loud and flashy club could make Reid overstimulated and skittish. Maybe it was because he was a quiet guy who didn’t like to approach strangers or when strangers approached him. Maybe it was even the fact that Reid was a definite homebody and resident introvert, and he preferred the company of stained coffee cups and towering stacks of books to the pulsing air and drunken mess of a club.

Whatever it was, Reid was not the kind to go out to a club.

So why was he currently at one?

He picked up his glass of water and took a sip, his eyes glancing from grinding bodies to grinding bodies, before his eyes landed back on the napkin in front of him. To his left, Prentiss was spinning a glass of scotch and laughing with J.J., whose pink drink was almost full. To his right, Garcia was spun around in his chair, sipping eagerly at her cocktail and eyes trained on Morgan, who was dancing with one-- no, two-- no, _three_ women of varying beauty. Reid’s eyes flicked over to Morgan. It was safe. Garcia was doing it, no one would judge him.

He hoped, at least.

When he blinked he heard Garcia muttering something, though he had to lean in closer to hear her over the bass-heavy music. “He’s like an Adonis… Look at those _arms…_ ”

“You know,” Reid spoke, louder than he usually did, since the music would have muffled his normal speaking voice, “if you look at any of the descriptions of Adonis in the mythological writings, given that he’s supposed to be a youth, there's reason to conclude that, of the two of us, he'd look more like _me_ , where Derek would be more in line with Zeus. Of course, since Adonis became Aphrodite's consort when he was co-opted into Greek mythology out of the West Semitic mystery cults, I'd prefer to be _Ganymede_ , but the central problem with both of them is the lack of action that they show in their respective stories so, really, I…” 

Garcia giggled, cutting off Reid’s mythos rambling. He looked at her, surprised, as she turned around from her gawking of Morgan. “Reid, baby, tonight is the night you should turn off that big ol’ brain of yours and have fun! After this week's case…” The pause was enough for Reid’s mood to turn somber, just for a moment.

The last case had been another hard one. Two gay couples in Florida had been killed outside of gay bars and posed in provocative poses. Gunshot wounds to the head, evidence of rape on two of the women and one of the men (they had discovered that he was transgender, which was why he was the only male who was raped), and their driver liscenses stolen. The third couple had been kids Reid had known from high school; football players who found comfort and truth in each other. They used Reid and Morgan as bait to capture him, which worked. Reid nearly got shot, but luckily Morgan was stronger than the unsub. Everyone had been pretty upset, Reid and Garcia especially, and when the team got back, Garcia had brought them cups of tea and gave her shoulder for Reid to rest on. The year before this case, Reid had decided to come out to the rest of the team; it didn’t make sense for it to be a secret, since he wore a pride pin on his purple scarf and had once told the team (during a drunk Truth or Dare circle at Hotch’s place, which Reid only remembers in short flashes of flushed cheeks, loud laughter, and Prentiss teasing her hair to look like her high school yearbook photo) that he had, in fact, had sex with a man or two in his past. When he came out, Garcia’s jaw had dropped and she had, good naturedly, complained that Reid had stolen her idea. The team was a bit confused at first, and Morgan almost flinched when Reid had reached his hand out to rest it on Morgan’s shoulder, but he quickly recovered and let Reid put his hand on his shoulder, saying that he was okay and that he was glad the kid could trust them enough to come out to them. Garcia then loudly announced to the team that she and Reid were “mlm/wlw solidarity”, whatever that meant, and the team laughed and Reid immediately felt much more relieved than he did before coming out. 

But it was now. And now meant loud music and sweaty bodies and the smell of cigarettes and whatever the hell “vape” was and the fact that Morgan was now coming closer with a smile on his face and a lipstick mark on his neck.

Fuck.

“Baby girl,” Morgan said loudly to be heard over the new pounding song playing from the DJ booth and the speakers. “Pretty boy, why are you two standing around? Go have some fun!”

Garcia’s smile brightened and she pointed to her shoes, “These puppies are tired from dancing already, baby.”

Morgan laughed, and then his eyes latched onto Reid’s. “What about you kid? What’s your excuse?”

Reid tightened his grip on his water, feeling nervous. “I don’t dance. And I’m feeling very… overwhelmed.”

Morgan nodded, moving closer and reaching his hand out to Reid’s arm. His touch hovered over Reid’s forearm but Reid could still feel the heat. He gulped, feeling tempted to reach out and grab that hand, hold it and have it stabilize him, letting people know that--

 _“Stop it,”_ he scolded his brain. _“Not tonight.”_

Morgan didn’t touch him, but leaned in closer and said in a tone loud enough for Reid to hear but quiet enough so Garcia doesn’t overhear, “You alright? Want me to take you home?”

Yes, he did. He wanted to go home and invite Morgan in, give him coffee and fall asleep together. But if he did, Morgan would feel uncomfortable. And if he went home now, then Morgan would have to leave the women on his arms, and Reid would hate to help Morgan not get laid tonight. 

He swallowed again. “No-No, I’m… I’m okay. I’ll walk around, stretch my legs a bit.” With a friendly smile, Reid peeled himself away from the bar, glass of water still in his hands and Morgan’s eyes following him. He tried to ignore that last part.

He failed.

He had to skirt past Prentiss, who had finished drinking her whiskey apparently and was now dancing in between a man and a woman, two girls kissing each other obscenely and hands dancing on each other’s exposed thighs, a woman grinding against a muscular man, but finally Reid broke past the crowd of dancers and ended up in front of a bunch of tables with people sitting at them. And then--

“Holy shit, Spencer Reid?”

Reid froze, and his eye darted to where the voice came from. A group of four women were sitting at the table next to where Reid had emerged from the crowd of dancers, and one of them looked positively delighted. Two of them were deeply engrossed in their own conversation, and the last woman was fixing her lip gloss in a travel-size mirror. The woman who was looking at Reid was blonde, wearing a red halter top and black leather shorts. 

“Reid, it’s me! Evelyn Daniels? Do you remember me?” The blonde spoke again, and Reid’s breath caught in his throat.

The football field. A kiss promised and denied. Laughter. Cold wind latching onto his skin. Tears streaming down his face.

And Evelyn Daniels standing in front of him, eyes cruel and laughter even crueler. 

“Yeah…” Reid said, but his voice cracked, and he coughed. Evelyn didn’t say anything, just looked at him. “Yeah, I… I remember you. H-How are you, Evelyn?”

“Great! Newly single, so I’m hitting the town for a good time! You remember Amber and Natasha, right? That’s Natasha’s girlfriend Izzy next to her. Girls, you remember Spencer, right?”

Amber looked away from her mirror, scanned Reid from top to bottom, and looked back to her mirror. “Oh, right. Hi Spencer,” she said in a monotone voice. Amber had dressed extremely goth when she was in high school, and while she still wore black tonight, she looked significantly less goth than back then. 

Natasha and Izzy stopped whispering and giggling to each other to look at Reid, and Natasha’s eyes had a glint in them when she spoke. “Oh shit, I had no idea you were in town! What’s a geek like you doing in a bar like this?” Natasha’s closely shaved hair was dyed a bubblegum pink, while Izzy’s bangs and chin-length hair were bleached, with her ginger roots showing.

“Who’s this, love?” Izzy asked, hand trailing down Natasha’s arm and reaching her hand before intertwining their fingers together.

“Reid was a classmate of ours in high school,” Amber said, capping her lip gloss off and closing her mirror. “He was like, what, twelve? Young genius type shit.”

Natasha nodded. “Yeah, he was the smartest kid in the whole school. Wasn’t too popular, though.”

Reid fidgeted where he was practically stuck to the floor. “Well, usually being the smartest kid in the grade and being popular don’t always go hand in hand, so…”

Izzy chuckled, and Amber glanced at Reid. “Are we making you uncomfortable, Reid?”

“You aren’t making me uncomfortable,” Reid lied, dishonestly, like a liar. “I just… I had a rough work day, so I’m a bit stressed from that.”

“What’s your job again? I always did wonder what happened to the local genius in our class.” Evelyn smiled, but Reid could tell she was waiting for the kicker.

Wouldn’t they be surprised.

“I’m, uh-- I work for the BAU at the FBI-- I’ve also got a few doctorates, so technically it’s Dr. Spencer Reid,” Reid rambled, feeling even more embarrassed as he continued to talk. 

Evelyn looked surprised. “A profiler, huh? I never would have guessed that little Reid would’ve been smart enough to play with the big boys!” Natasha chuckled and Amber smiled a little bit. 

Izzy looked almost starstruck. “Wow, so you’re like a genius or something, huh?”

Spencer was starting to sweat. “I don’t like to call myself a genius, but if an IQ of 187 reading 20,000 words per minute, holding three PhD.s, two bachelor degrees and working on a third is considered genius, I guess I am one. But I don't like measuring intelligence with numbers and such. People refer to me as a genius, if that helps.” 

Evelyn grabbed her drink and took a long sip from it. Once she was done, she smiled at Izzy and said, “Get used to that for the night Izzy, he never stops talking when you get him started.”

Reid felt skittish, and he still felt like he was overstimulated and twitchy. He wished he had said yes to Morgan offering a ride home. 

Izzy suddenly looked like she realized something, and when she said, “Oh wait, I remember you! You were the nerd Evelyn had duct taped to the football pole and stripped naked!” Reid felt his entire body seize.

Of course they had told Izzy. Who wouldn’t tell someone about how they pants the biggest nerd in your school and left him there for hours? It was the biggest story in the school for the rest of the year. Reid was still bullied for years after it had happened. And Reid had tried to block out those memories, but now it was flooding back and he was ready to leave, cry, scream, or all three.

Suddenly, Reid felt a warm hand on the small of his back, causing him to jump slightly before Morgan spoke next to him, his voice friendly yet restrained, unlike anything Reid had heard before. “Hey there Reid, you mind introducing me to your… friends here?”

Rage. Morgan was holding back rage. Reid practically melted into the hand on his back, nearly collapsed into Morgan’s side and nuzzled into his neck. He wanted Morgan to steal him away and make sure his bullies never come near him again. 

Almost immediately their attitudes changed; Natasha and Izzy both side-eyed each other before drinking in Morgan’s image, Amber’s right eyebrow quirked up, and she subconsciously pushed her breasts together and up to catch Morgan’s eyes, and Evelyn's smile grew from predatory to saccharine in a flash, uncrossing and crossing her legs just in case Morgan was looking.

“Well hello there, handsome,” Evelyn started, holding her hand out so Morgan can shake it. “I didn’t know Spencer worked with such a handsome man like yourself. We’re all old classmates of his, except for Izzy. I’m Evelyn, the goth chick is Amber, and the pink-haired woman is Natasha. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Morgan had been shaking her hand until she said her name, but when she said it he stopped and looked at her. His eyes darted to Reid, an unspoken question shining in his brown eyes. Reid nodded minutely, and bit his bottom lip in a nervous action. 

Morgan knew about Evelyn. He knew about what they had done, Reid had confided in him many months, even years ago, about the horrible things that had happened to Reid on that fateful day. Morgan had gotten furious when Reid had told him; Reid remembers his eyes growing feral, hands balling into fists, a promise made that day between the two of them, a promise that Morgan would protect him against those bullies and any other bully from Reid’s youth. 

_“I’m gonna have to hold Morgan back at this point,”_ Reid thought as the hand on the small of his back moved to his waist and pulled Reid closer, causing Reid to break out into a pink flush. 

“It’s a pleasure meeting you Evelyn, and the rest of you girls as well. My name’s Derek. I just wanted to check on Reid and see how he was feeling. Seems like he needed to be saved, huh pretty boy?” Morgan’s hand went from Reid’s waist to his hair and messed up with the silky brown strands, bringing his head closer to Morgan before letting his hand fall back to his waist.

Evelyn's eyes grew feral at the sight and twirled a strand of her hair around her finger. “I had no idea Reid had a boyfriend… I mean, we all assumed he was a queer but to see it actually be turn out to be true is… incredible.”

Reid felt Morgan tense up next to him. Morgan hated that word, and while he was okay with Prentiss calling herself that, when it was used in a slur it brought him back to his childhood. The hand on Reid’s waist tightened, and just when Reid was about to correct Evelyn on how they were just friends and co-workers, Morgan pulled Reid in closer and said, “Well, can you blame me? A handsome guy like Reid can pull anyone he wants into his bed, and he chose little ol’ me; I’m always flattered.”

Reid was struck silent as he whirled to look at Morgan, who was side-eying him and quirking his eyebrow, making sure Reid was comfortable with it. That Reid, the openly bisexual man of the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI, was okay with Morgan, the straight man alpha dog of the team and Reid’s best friend, pretending to be his boyfriend.

Reid was in love with him.

He moved one of his hands, which had been awkwardly held either in the air or by Reid’s side, to Morgan’s back pocket of his jeans and slipped his hand inside it. Morgan’s eyes went wide for a second before a flirty grin took over his features, and he looked back at the girls, who were looking at both men with surprise coloring their features.

“I never would have expected Reid to have snatched up a man quite as handsome as you, Derek, but he’s always been one for surprises, even when we were in school together.” Natasha said, chuckling. Amber nodded, and Evelyn was darting her eyes between Derek’s chest and where Derek’s hand rested on Reid’s waist. "Did you guys meet at work?"

Derek nodded, smiling softly. "I asked him out the second week he joined. It felt right, and now look at us." Morgan turned his head slightly to Reid. "The dynamic duo at work."

“Speaking of work, Derek…” Evelyn started. “How’s Reid like at work? Is he as… interesting as he was at school?”

Derek chuckled. “Oh yeah, I love hearing him talk about anything; he goes on the cutest tangents, sometimes I wish I could kiss him to shut him up when I think he needs to stop.”

Reid flushed pink and rolled his eyes. “You could tell me to stop talking anytime, Derek, I would listen.”

“Did I say it was a bad thing, pretty boy? I don’t think I did…” Morgan chuckled, glancing back at the girls. “Well, ladies, I hope we never run into each other again. Reid, let’s go back to Garcia.”

With that, Morgan turned the two of them around and began walking back to where Garcia was still sitting at the bar. Reid remembered he had his hand in Morgan’s back pocket, and feeling the girls’ eyes on him, he squeezed the flesh his palm was holding. Morgan jolted and turned to look at Reid, wide-eyed, and Reid jutted his head back toward the table. Morgan, getting the hint, laughed out loud and leaned in close to say something to Reid.

“Sorry about that Reid, I don’t know what came over me, but I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable.”

Reid hummed, leaning in just as close, turning his head slightly to the side and ghosting his lips close to Morgan’s. “Thank you, Derek.”

Reid could almost hear more than see Morgan gulp, and when the other agent spoke next it sounded caught off guard. “Well, they might try and see if we’re lying to them the rest of the night, so maybe we should… keep up the act. Y’know, just in case.”

Nodding, Reid smiled. “Sounds like a plan.”

And when Morgan had backed Reid against a wall in the club, one hand cradling the back of his head as he kissed him breathless, Reid simply went along with it.

Y’know, just in case.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are always appreciated.  
> remember kids:  
> stay in drugs,  
> eat your school,  
> and dont do vegetables.


End file.
